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Mark Heatherbell's avatar

Donald Trump first made this claim back in 1987, and it is possible his intellectual development stopped way back then, and he is stuck in an anachronistic time warp from the past, with reasoning that might have applied then. So he may have seen the light, but it was a long time ago. He is a weirdo, and time will tell.

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SomeUserName's avatar

" It was the biggest two-day loss in history."

Ely you are way too smart to have mistaken these last two days as the biggest loss in history. I lived through Black Monday Oct 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrials plunged nearly 23% in one day. The S&P500 (the market) is down 10% over the last 2 days. Not even close to the largest loss in history

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Ely's avatar

The loss of $6.6 trillion was the largest two-day loss of shareholder value on record, not percentage loss.

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SomeUserName's avatar

The stock market itself is larger than ever. So let's calculate what percentage 6.6T is a percentage of market cap compared to all other stock market declines. I don't have the answer but it doesn't pass the sniff test that a 10% drop would be a larger decline than 23% on a percentage basis. The markets and the economy are bigger than ever. You need to compare apples to apples. You are comparing two different measures

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Ely's avatar

Okay it's two different measures but this was a 6.6 trillion unforced error. You may think it's necessary; I think it's irrational to lash out at the world and using phony figures as a pretext. If he doesn't rethink his stance, then a trade war is on and it will hurt many people.

Covid tanked the US and world economy. Is this Trump's Covid version 2.0? We shall soon find out.

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SomeUserName's avatar

I completely agree that this was an unforced error and hope that he has some kind of plan in mind to stop a trade war escalation. My only beef with your message was the unnecessary hyperbole, that I also have seen from many liberals. The facts are bad enough to convey the point. No extra fluff is needed

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Ely's avatar

Look I have been a Trump supporter, but what seems to be happening is that to criticize some of Trump's policies means that someone is suffering TDS, or is a empathizes with the left wing loonies. I am neither. However, it's important that we realize that the man is impetuous and even when wrong his narcissim won't allow him to contemplate that he may have made a mistake.

I happen to know someone who knows him...I won't divulge personal information, but what you see is not always what you get. Bottom line is that this could send us rapidly into a worldwide crisis. I hope it doesn't. His rationale for putting tariffs on Australia is beyond me given America's surplus with Australia. I know many previous supporters who are questioning his rationality.

It may be that some people have his ear and are influencing him.

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SomeUserName's avatar

Every country has a higher tariff on US goods than the US does have on their goods. if you add in the VAT tax which is an extra tariff, it’s even more lopsided. The United States is $36 trillion in debt. The United States cannot keep subsidizing other countries tariff regimes. many Americans, including myself do not understand how it is somehow fair that our exports are tariffed at a higher rate than other countries imports into the US. If Australia has a 20% tariff for American goods and America has a 0% tariff for Australian goods(these are hypothetical numbers by the way I don’t know what the exact number is. I do know that the US has never charged a higher tariff than any trading partner). How is that fair?

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Mara's avatar

I'm not an economist, not by any means.

But those "reciprocal" tariffs appear to have been calculated solely from the trade deficit with those countries, and as Jeffrey Sachs says, that is a bit like blaming retail businesses for your credit card excesses, spending beyond your means.

I'm all for countries becoming more self sufficient, especially for essential goods. And tariffs historically have led to boosts to those industries within a country. (Maybe Australia could think about how this might work here?)

But Trump's new tariff policy has a lot of risks and likely downsides, for the US as well as for other countries, and only time will tell how well it works for them.

We will see!

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Mark.Kennard's avatar

Trumps mantra says it all. America first. Their friends are not friends but vassal states who are expected to do as they are told. All American presidents have been blatantly lying and using propaganda, not only against the rest of the world, but also American citizens since 2013.

2013 is when the ability to use propaganda against their own citizens was authorised in the 2013 NDAA, just before they organised the coup in Ukraine against the democratically elected government. America is an enemy of democracy and have used colour revolutions and other methods to take down many dozens of democratically elected leaders since ww2, they blame everyone else for doing the anti-democratic things they are doing. I think the best response to these tariffs is to stop trading with America and sell our goods in new markets. Put America last.

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Ely's avatar

I know a lot of Americans and have investments there, it's not what Americans think though many are over the behaviour of their politicians. I had to laugh when J.D. Vance was lecturing Europeans about freedoms. How about looking in your own backyard. What was all the censorship put out by the Biden administration the last number of years in cahoots with Big Tech?

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Mark.Kennard's avatar

They always do that kind of thing. They accuse other countries of doing what they themselves are actually doing. They gaslight the world like the nz govt gaslight their voters

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Alan Devincentis's avatar

Sounding like a parrot. Sorry. This works. Post has the damn planet in his hands

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